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Tipping The Scales

Carrie has a great post up today describing the second hand benefits of concealed carry. I highly encourage you to go and read the whole thing. Here’s the point that really sticks out to me.

But what if just, say, 20% of we “easy marks” were properly trained and carrying firearms? It would completely change the power dynamic out there for everyone if it became impossible to predict which potential victims were also a fatal error. Every victim becomes Schrödinger’s victim, an unknown outcome until you open that box. Every attack, every attempt to harm, becomes a serious gamble.

Indeed, and well said.

Not only would it change the power dynamic, it would tip the scales of risk vs. reward for the potential rapist. Rapists don’t live in fear of being caught by the police. Even in the off chance they are caught, convictions are slippery. Plenty of women won’t even press charges because she will have her background picked apart and be vilified by the defense. For most, it’s just easier to try and pick up the pieces and move on rather than have a drawn out court proceeding with officials doing their very best to make you out to be a liar and a slut. (For the record, I don’t care if she’s slept with every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Susan in town and works the corner at night. No means no.)

Understand that I am not passing judgement on the woman in Carrie’s story. What she was wearing, how hard she fought/didn’t fight, where she happened to be when it happened have no bearing on the guilt of her attacker. Becoming a victim is never the victim’s fault. I am not saying anything about what she should or shouldn’t have done.

No, I am focusing on the motivations of the rapist. He set out to hurt someone. I can only assume that the reward side of the equation is his sick fun and recreation. With many rapists, they get off on a disgusting power trip that comes from subjugating someone weaker than they are. And the risk side? Well it is certainly not prison time because they are highly unlikely to get it. But what if there had been a dozen stories in the news the week before of these apparently easy marks successfully defending themselves? What if over half of those attempted rapists were dead? Seems to drop a bit more weight on the risk side of the scale, don’t you think? That easy mark starts looking a whole lot less easy.

And maybe, just maybe, the idea of a potentially deadly mark when keep them in check. Maybe these stories of more and more women making the choice to own and use firearms might give them pause before selecting that next victim. By making myself a far more risky target, I’m not just helping myself. Heck, I’m helping women like Joan Peterson who will never carry a gun because the rapist can’t tell which one of us has the power to end his miserable existence. And maybe, just maybe, that thought will be enough to tip the scales far too heavily on the risk side. I want to be the boogie woman. That fear that stops them in their tracks.

No, I don’t think open carry hurts that argument either. In fact, if a criminal sees an openly carried pistol on someone’s hip, it might serve as a reminder that they are out there. I just might not be showing mine off today.

Even if I’m wrong, I still win. Because if more potential victims kill their attackers instead of becoming victims, we get more dead rapists and that’s the only good kind of rapist.

Very good writeup. I think more women should take up arms to protect themselves instead of hoping that the judicial system will always serve justice. As Sean stated once someone rapes another its only a matter of time before it happens again. There are too many cases of serial rapists out there because they have gotten off the hook for the crime.
Another crutch to this is the over tolerance for this type of behavior, some people just can not be rehabilitated.

Hmmmm…wonder how much more difficult it would be to strategically place a round “where it counts” instead of in a life-threatening place like chest or head (big one, that is). I personally think that would be a bigger deterrent…you’re alive, you have all your desires, but no longer are in possession of the requisite equipment. Then again, I’m an evil, demented bass-turd who thinks justice, in certain cases, should be dragged out and painful.

So, let’s say there is no deterrent affect. Well, on the other end of the cause/effect, the higher percentage of law-abiding people that carry, the fewer and fewer of the criminals there will be as they start getting taken out.